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Cashner debuts out of bullpen

Cashner debuts out of bullpen

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PITTSBURGH -- Right-hander Andrew Cashner came up from Triple-A Iowa on Monday. Cashner was moved from the rotation to the bullpen at Iowa late last week, and he pitched twice in relief. Cashner, a closer at Texas Christian University, was the Cubs' first-round Draft pick in 2008.

"He's a good young arm," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "We had him at Spring Training and he went down to Double-A and started and at Triple-A; he's started at both classifications. We're going to put him in the middle just to get him started and get his feet wet and hopefully he'll develop into a nice late-inning pitcher for us in the bullpen.

"Basically we're hoping that he can just take Carlos Zambrano's spot, the way we were using Zambrano."

Cashner made his Major League debut in the eighth inning of Monday's 2-1 loss to the Pirates. The right-hander needed just one pitch to retire Ronny Cedeno on a popup to shortstop to end the eighth inning.

"I was a little nervous out there today," Cashner admitted. "I was able to control things and make a pitch."